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Monday, April 25, 2016

Dewey's 24 Spring 2016 Readathon - Wrap up

Another 24 Hour Readathon survived! It was an interesting one this time around, with Munchkin and his attention span of a squirrel, but it was a lot of fun.

So let me start off my wrap up post with the Dewey's End of Readathon Survey

Which hour was most daunting for you? The early morning hours at the end, I had gone to bed super late but Munchkin was ready to go at 6:00am for the last 2 hours. Thank goodness for the Read To Me books on the Nook!

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? This may not be for everyone but reading children's books, beginning (step up) readers, and middle grade books really made the day fly by. My go to suggestion for readathons are graphic novels, and then I rather enjoyed a steamy romance after Munchkin went to bed.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season? I wasn't as active this year as normal, but I must say the cheering was horrible. I was hoping to share something posted with Munchkin to keep him into "our special reading day" but there wasn't anything.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I really enjoyed seeing Reading Rainbow's participation, and I smacked my forehead on Sunday because I had bought Reading Rainbow DVDs for Munchkin but forgot to play them for him.

How many books did you read? 25 total

What were the names of the books you read? Adventures of Beekle, If You Give a Dog a Donut, Secret Pizza Party, I am Helping, A Big Guy took my Ball, Foolish Tortoise, Pit Crew Pups, Owls, Ewoks Join the Fight, Flying High, Zeg and the Egg, Beast Keeper, Hounds of Hades, Steeds of the Gods, Dragon Healer, Dogs of War, Angela Asgard's Assassin, Apollo, Goodnight Darth Vader, Esio Trot, Gone Fishing, One Night of Sin, Vacation Under the Volcano, Day of the Dragon King, A New Hope

Which book did you enjoy most? I really enjoyed Dogs of War, it is a graphic novel, geared towards Middle Grade readers but it was a great book for all ages.

Which did you enjoy least? I didn't really dislike any of them, though between the Apollo Graphic Novel and then the Beast Keeper, Hounds of Hades, Steeds of the Gods and Dragon Healer middle grade books, I got burned out on mythology.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will definitely participate again and I think it was really great how Munchkin joined me, at only 3 years old he had a good time and didn't complain at all about spending most of the day reading (he took a couple of movie, nap and lego breaks). So I hope to keep him interested so down the road he will still want to spend a day reading with dear old Momma.

So there you have the end of Readathon Survey, now for my own story of the day . . .

We kicked off the morning by running to 'the Donut House' as Munchkin calls Dunkin Donuts to grab some breakfast before we got started.

We read a few beginning reader and Children's books to start the morning. Then by snack time Munchkin wanted to watch The Gruffalo Movie (his favorite) and he picked out some books for me to read.

After watching the movie, he saw me reading a Graphic Novel so he picked out his own book to read.

Then he helped make a quick lunch and we read some more books while he ate. During Nap time I finished the books he picked out.

After Nap time we read a few more children's books and while he played lego I read another couple of graphic novels. While we were getting Munchkin ready for bed we listened to A New Hope audio CD. Then after he went to bed I got to read a romance. I did manage to stay awake until 1:00 am and read 2 of the Magic Tree House books.

Then early morning, I was too tired to read too much so I had Munchkin climb into bed and we listened to Read To Me Children's books downloaded on my Nook. Here is the pile of books we read throughout the day (minus the ones on the Nook and Kindle)

My super comfy Readathon clothes, leggings, a baggy t-shirt and warm fuzzy socks. Of course I always have a blanket too because I love being cozy warm when reading.

I absolutely loved this line from Angela: Asgard's Assassin, it made me crack up.

Now did I accomplish my goals?!

1. Read/listen for 10+ hours - Check - read for 16.5 hours!

2. Read at least 650 pages - Big Check - read 2,255 pages

3. Update regularly on Twitter - Check - I updated several times throughout the day

4. Get Munchkin involved - Sure did and he seemed to really enjoy it (his favorite book of the day was A Big Guy Took My Ball and Zeg and the Egg).

5. Read and have fun, of course! - Check and Check!

I certainly did accomplish my goals this readathon!

I really had fun with this readathon, considering I was rather dreading it. I didn't have high hopes for Munchkin behaving himself all day and allowing me to read, but it worked out far better than I ever expected. Granted if it had been a sunny beautiful day I don't think it would have gone quite as well. (Honestly, I think Munchkin was more tolerant of my reading than Hubby is, and he definitely interrupted me less than Hubby does. Maybe in the future instead of kicking both Hubby and Munchkin out of the house, I will just kick Hubby out HAHAHA).

I did mention above in the end of Readathon survey that I was horribly disappointed in the cheering. I signed up extra early (and linked to my twitter where I would do most of my posting) in order to have some cheers. In years past one or two people would stop by to cheer you on, this year I had a few other readers stop by but not any cheerleaders. And I know they have their hands full, there are a lot of readers to not so many cheerleaders. But it would have been nice to be able to show Munckin that other people are encouraging his reading all day and cheering for him as he reads. I am doing everything I can to make him a voracious reader like me but it is hard to compete with his love for construction equipment (that Hubby has access to) and his bouncy 3 year old boy attention span and activity levels. But I do thank those of you who did come by and encourage our reading day!

How did your day go? What was your favorite book? Did you try anything new this readathon?